Well I finally got the bearings and shaft to start building a v drum sander. The shaft comes in 36” lengths so I could build the drum up to about 30” long if I wanted to – but do I want to? How big would you build the drum if it was you? At 30” I could sand some pretty big panels but would this thing be to bulky, big, heavy or anything else I’m not thinking of? Also what type of glue should I use to glue down the velcro? I’m thinking I’ll build the drum out of Mdf and make it 4” diameter. I am still thinking that I make it a table top version (put it on a workmate when using it). I just finished building a armoire and I could have used this sander for just about every aspect of the build so I know it will get used a lot. So lets hear your thoughts on building this thing as I know some have already built these and a lot of others are wanting to. Thanks for the thoughts.

2 replies so far

I suppose bigger can always be better/nicer, but if I did gone to a 24” or 30”, I would have created some serious storage space problems.

The sander I built stows under a workbench along with my planer, scroll saw, and miter saw. If the sander were any longer, one or two of those other tools would have to go.

I sanded a pair of 24” wide panels on my 18” sander this past weekend … did about 13” one way. flipped the panel around and did about 13” the other way. I’m sure they are not perfectly flat, but I can’t find a crown or flaws in the center where I overlapped the passes.

-- Gerry -- "I don't plan to ever really grow up ... I'm just going to learn how to act in public!"